that you have captured. one that you have not is osama bin laden.

tomorrow is going to be nine years since he was the mastermind of 3,000 americans being killed. i think capturing or killing bin laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al qaeda. he's not just a symbol, he's an operational leader of an organization planning attacks against the u.s. do you still believe it's a critical policy to capture or kill him? and here you are two years in, your campaign saying that you were going to run a smarter war on terror than the bush administration and you haven't captured him and you don't seem to know where he is. >> well, i think capturing or killing bin laden would be extremely important to our national security. it doesn't solve all of our problems but it remain as high priority of this administration. one of the things that we've been very successful at over the

last few years is to ramp up the pressure on al qaeda and their key leaders. and as a consequence, they have been holed up in ways that have made it harder for them to operate. and part of what has happened is that bin laden has gone deep underground. even more often out there has been much more cautious, but we have the best minds, the best intelligence officers, the best special forces who are thinking about this day and night. and they will continue to think about it day and night as long as i'm president. >> do you think americans are going to face another nine years of this terror threat, another generation? what's your -- >> here's what i think. i think that in this day and age

there are going to be -- there is always going to be the potential for an individual or a small group of individuals, if they are willing to die, to kill other people. some of them are going to be very well organized and some of them are going to be rampant. that threat is there. it's important for the american people to understand that. and not to live in fear. it's just a reality of todays world that there are going to be threats out there. we have, i think, greatly improved our homeland security since 9/11 occurred. you know, i am constantly impressed with the dedication that our teams apply to this problem. they are chasing down every thread, not just from al qaeda

but any other actor out there that might be engaging in terrorism. they are making sure that even what might appear to be a lone individual that makes up a threat and one of the things that i want to make sure that we do as a president is to understand and that we don't start losing who we are or overreacting if, in fact, there is the threat of terrorism out there. we go about our business. we are tougher than them. our families and our businesses

and our churches and mosques and synagogues and our constitution and our values, that's what gives us strength and we are going to have this problem out there for a long time to come but it doesn't have to completely distort us and it doesn't have to dominate our foreign policy. what we can do is to constantly fight against it and i think ultimately we are going to be able to stamp it out. but it's going to take some time. >> last question. wendell? >> thank you, mr. president. i wonder if i can get you to weigh in on the wisdom of building a mosque a couple of blocks from ground zero. we know that the organizers have the constitutional right. what would it say about this country if they were somehow talked out of doing that and hasn't the florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the koran, has the

threat itself put american lives in danger, sir? >> well, on your second question, there is no doubt that when someone goes out of their way to be provocative in ways that we know can inflame the passions of over a billion muslims around the world, at a time when we've got our troops in a lot of muslim countries, that's a problem. and it has made life a lot more difficult for our men and women in uniform who already have a very difficult job. with respect to the mosque in new york, i think i've been pretty clear on my position here. and that is, that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created

equal, that they have certain anailable rights and one of those is to practice their religion freely. and what that means is that if you could build a church on a site, you could build a synagogue on a site, if you could build a hindu temple on a site, then you should be able to build a mosque on the site. now, i recognize the extraordinary sensitivities around 9/11. you know, i've met with families of 9/11 victims in the past. you know, i can only imagine the continuing pain and anguish and sense of loss that they may go through. and tomorrow we, as americans, are going to be joining them in prayer and remembrance.

but i go back to what i said earlier. we are not at war against islam. we are at war against terrorist organizations that have distorted islam or falsely used the banner of islam to engage in their destructive acts. and we've got to be clear about that. we've got to be clear about that because if we're going to deal with the problems that he had he had hened henry was talking abo if we're going to successfully reduce the terrorist threat, then we need all of the allies that we can get. the folks who are most interested in a war between the united states or the western islam are al qaeda. that's what they have been banking on. and fortunately, the overwhelming majority of muslims

around the world are peace loving, are interested in the same things that you and i are interested in. how do i make sure i can get a good job? how do i make sure my kids get a decent education? how can i make sure that i'm safe? improve my life? and so they have rejected this violent ideology, for the most part. overwhelmingly. and so from a national security interest, we want to be clear about who the enemy is here. it's ap handful of people who are engaging in horrific acts. and have killed muslims more than anybody else. the other reason it's important for us to remember is that because we've got millions of muslim-americans, our fellow citizens in this country. they are going to school with

our kids. they are our neighbors. they are our friends. they are are co-workers. and, you know, when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them? i've got muslims who are fighting in afghanistan, in the uniform of the united states armed services. they are out there putting their lives on the line for us and we've got to make sure that we are crystal clear for our sakes and their sakes, they are americas and we honor their service. and part of honoring their service is making sure that they understand we don't differentiate between them and us. it's just us.

and that is a principle that i think is going to be very important for to us sustain and i think tomorrow is an excellent time for us to reflect on that. thank you very it looks like a bomb went off in san francisco. that's how the crews described a natural gas explosion. hundreds of homes are destroy and the death toll is climbing. here's the latest from wjz. a spectacular deadly fire

ball lit up the sky in the san francisco suburb. >> it sounded like a jet with the roar and the boom. >> the boom was a natural gas line that ruptured thursday evening and sending flames a hundred feet in the air. >> several people were killed an the death toll could rise. officials haven't been able to canvas the area just yet. some of the homes that went up in flames are still smoking. >> it's difficult and the sun is shining over there, but there's a dark cloud over the city. hundreds had to be evacuated from their homes and many came here and it turned into an emergency operation center. from here, the red cross placed many in shelters. [ indiscernible ] >> we have our lives and our dogs. >> reporter: the fire was immensely difficult to control.

airplanes dropped retardant from above. >> i've never, ever felt anything like that. >> was there anything to describe how it was. it was like hell on earth. all you could see were the flames. >> the gas company will take the responsibility if it's at fault. in california, for cbs news.

our other big story, the on again, off again plan to burn the korans in florida. the florida pastor says he won't do it if the proposed advisers on the ground zero project move the building. this is the friday noon puppy, she's special, she's a spray and she was returning around, she was scared and she was a stray. she's on a vet table she thinks. she's a female terrier and we'll call her patricia and she's nice and friendly. she got up here and she's like, whoa!

>> and this is compliments of mr. basement. what i want to do is take a look at the forecast this evening. we started the show at 54 degrees and we're now moving ourself up to the low 70s and 69, 70 now. around the area. 75 today and 52 degrees tonight and tomorrow, we're talking about a sunny high of 79 degrees. i want to throw out a flag about sunday. there's an area of low pressure passing to the south. it will sling moisture our way. i'm not sure i want to write sunday off. we'll go for a high of 75 and tonight around 11:00, well, for the overnight computer models and the morning newscast, it will tell you the story about sunday. >> we need like a soaking rain, not a thunderstorm. >> exactly correct. >> and we'll be in the low 80s

and upper 70s for the first of next week. we'll have more on the purple pride later on today and you can see the kick off of the season live here, next monday night. our special coverage starts at 6:30 live here on wjz-13. don't miss tonight's prime time cbs lineup. at 10:00, it's flash point, followed by eyewitness news at 11:00. you know, of course, if you go to wjz.com. one of the great football sound bites of all time came from ray lewis yesterday and we have it in the full story on wjz.com. he basically said to the jets, talk all you want, all that counts is when you buckle your chain straps. everyone jumped on this.

buckle your chin straps. >> and we should promote another piece of cbs shows tonight. stand up to cancer tonight. the past two years, they've raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research and the goal is to cure cancer in our lifetime. >> thank you for watching eyewitness news anan,,,,,,,,,,

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